Sparks
by love-not-fight
Summary: Life was great for Hermione Granger, except for her odd eyes and the green sparks that burst from her fingers unexpectedly, until her family and her were paid a visit from Albus Dumbledore and she discovers that she's a warlock  pre HP philosophers stone
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer - all hp and mi related stuff belongs to JK Rowling and Cassandra Clare, respectively**

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_Prologue_

_Hermione Granger had it all. With her chestnut hair, emerald eyes and well-proportioned body, she was certainly striking. She wasn't just looks either, she had just been accepted into one of Britain's most prestigious schools for academic excellence, she had starred in a national TV show and most people said that they had never met a more friendly, charming, witty and polite girl. Although she had what many people deemed to be a perfect life she was never completely happy, because never far away was the reminder that she was not a normal girl. Even though some people thought that her vertically slit cat-like eyes added to her allure she thought they were just odd. But even aside from her eyes, which she could forget occasionally, there was no getting away from the green sparks, the same colour as her eyes, which burst from her fingertips at unexpected times. She had long since given up trying to find a pattern. The sparks scared her, every time they burst out of her fingers it made her confront the fact that she didn't know who and what she was. Apart from this, Hermione Granger had an almost perfect and predictable life. That is, until she and her family were paid a visit from Albus Dumbledore._

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**A/N - i hope u like the prolougue, the first chapter should be up soon, am nearly finished it. :)**

**- BrownEyed Girl**


	2. A Unexpected Visit

**Disclaimer: all HP and MI stuff is not mine but JK Rowling and Cassandra Clare, respectively**

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We were eating dinner when he arrived. The kitchen was quiet; the only sounds were the humming of the fridge and the scraping of stainless steel forks against china plates. We never spoke when we ate, mum and dad still at work in their minds, and I was trying to prevent the sparks from showing, an impossible task as I didn't know the trigger. The sharp knock echoed through the house, splitting the silence. Startled, mum looked up, first at the door out of the kitchen, and then at me.  
"Hermione, can you get the door?" she asked, but it wasn't really a question.  
"And if it's someone trying to sell us more crap tell them that we aren't interested," my dad added, a scowl displaying his distaste for pushy salespeople. I sighed and pushed my chair away from the table, the wooden legs scraping across the tiled floor.  
"Oh, and don't let anyone in, I don't want to have to talk to anyone," he called as I left the kitchen. I shuffled unwilling down the hall, green sparks trailing behind my fingers as I ran them along the dusty sideboard. A picture caught my eye and I paused and picked up the photo, wiping the dust from the glass frame. It was a picture of mum, dad and me, at the seaside; I was only 6 years old and wearing sunglasses. As I looked closer at the small girl in the front of the photo it was simple to believe that the girl was normal, that that she didn't have eyes that looked like they belonged on a cat and didn't have bits of green fire about to explode out of her. Looking at the glazed smiles and glassy stares of the small family it was easy to see that they were happy, and easier still to imagine that they still were, until the ugly truth resurfaced that these people were my family, and we weren't really happy. I wondered absently where everything had wrong. Another knock, louder than before, punctured my thoughts and I remembered the door. I hurried quickly down the hall toward the door, and the stranger waiting outside the door.

The person waiting on the other side of the door was eccentric, to say the least. He was old, with silver hair, wearing robes of the deepest azure, that were half covered with a long silver beard that reached his waist and had half-moon spectacles perched upon a crooked nose that looked like it had been broken at least once in his lifetime. But the most striking aspect of his personality were his bright blue eyes, that twinkled softly behind his glasses and gave me the curious impression of being x-rayed.  
"It is generally accepted that the owners of a house do not keep their guests waiting on their doorstep," he said, and with that unexpected greeting he stepped smartly over the step and closed the door behind him. I, who had been listening and staring at him with a slightly shocked expression suddenly regained my voice.  
"Excuse me sir but I will have to ask you to leave now, as my family and I do not allow strangers access to our home," I stated, drawing myself up to my full height and as I did I flashed him a winning smile, fully aware of how I looked.  
"My name is Albus Dumbledore, and I'm very pleased to meet you, Miss Granger. I'm also glad that you are confident enough to try to throw me out of your home although I assure it is fruitless so there is no need to try and charm me," the man answered, while my winning smile lapsed into a probably very unattractive goldfish impersonation, "but enough with all this frivolous talk. There are more serious matters I must discuss with you and your parents, two to be precise. Now if you would be so kind as to show me into your living room, in which I think you will find your parents," at this point he smiled benignly down at me, and gestured for me to lead the way.

"Hermione! What's taking you so long? If it's another bloody salesperson just tell them we're not interested!" Her dad yelled down the hallway, his voice coming from the direction of the lounge, as the man with the strange clothes had predicted. Giving the man an odd look, I proceeded down the hall towards the living room, toward my parents, wondering how this man could know my name and what serious matters he had to discuss with my family and I.

My parents' faces changed from ones of annoyance as I entered the lounge to ones of disbelief as they saw I wasn't alone.  
"May I ask how this person is?" My father asked me, his face deceptively calm. I felt my own face whiten as I looked at his pale face, calm with rage. If there was one thing my dad couldn't stand, it was his power, especially in his own house, being undermined.  
"Excuse me Mr Granger, but it is not your daughter's fault that you have an unexpected guest in your house. Miss Granger performed an admirable deed and attempted to throw me out of your house, but I am not a man to be dissuaded easily," thankfully Albus Dumbledore intervened, sparing me from being yelled at, "anyway, there are two matters I need to discuss with you," at this point he settled himself quite comfortably into one of our chairs, seeming quite oblivious to the shocked looks my parents and I were sharing.  
"Look, Mr ..." My dad trailed off as he realized he didn't know the man's name.  
"Dumbledore, dad, Albus Dumbledore," I whispered to him from my spot on a chair next to the sofa on which my parents were sitting.  
"Thank you Hermione," he whispered back before raising his voice slightly to address the man sitting serenely on the chair opposite him, "Excuse me, Mr Dumbledore, but are you sure you can't come back another day?"  
"Please, just call me Dumbledore, no Mr. And absolutely not. I apologize for any inconvenience that I have caused you but seeing as your daughter's birthday is tomorrow there is no other alternative." Mr Dumbledore said with all seriousness.  
"How did you know that my birthday is tomorrow, and how did you know my name?" I asked, my curiosity aroused by this strange man and his knowledge of me.  
"I know many things about you, Hermione Granger, many of which you don't know yourself," he replied, the twinkle in his eyes almost completely non-existent, "and that is what I have come to talk to you about. Miss Granger, as you may or not be aware, you are not an entirely normal girl," he said as he looked at me over his half-moon glasses for confirmation. I nodded mutely, scared of what else Albus Dumbledore might know.  
"Abnormal, what do you mean? My daughter is perfectly normal," my mother stated indignantly, as she cast a protective look towards me.  
"I'm afraid she's not. I know that this may come as a shock to you but your daughter is actually a type of magical being, a warlock to be precise," he said this calmly, like it wasn't the end of my life as I knew it. An uproar followed this statement as my mum tried to convince him that I was normal and my dad alternated between telling him I was fine and telling him he should be in a mental asylum.  
"QUIET!" To my surprise I found it was myself who had called for silence, "Please, let's just listen to what he has to say," I continued as I cast a pleading look towards my parents."Excellent, excellent," Dumbledore said, smiling round at us, the twinkle back in his blue eyes, "now back to warlocks. I know that the muggle idea, that is, a non-magical being, of a warlock is very different to our concept of a warlock. Your idea is something akin to a wizard, a human with magic powers. That is an incorrect idea. Wizards, of which I am one, are human beings with magical potential, and rely on a wand to access their power. Without the aid of a wand they are nearly utterly useless, I say nearly because even though they cannot channel the power that they have, it still resides in them and that is why young wizards can have magic explode out of them at unexpected times. Witches are the same as wizards except that witches are females while wizards are male."  
"Poppycock! Utter rubbish! I've never heard such rubbish in my whole life!" My dad interrupted at this point, "Why I believe we've been taken in by some sort of joke. Hermione go to your room while I get rid off this idiot."  
"No, I won't. I think he's telling the truth," I said, annoyed that my dad wouldn't listen.  
"Hermione, you can't honestly say that you believe him, I've known you your whole life and there is nothing different about you."  
"What about my eyes? You can say they're normal!" I argued, convinced that Albus Dumbledore was the man that could answer all my questions.  
"There is nothing abnormal about your eyes, they're just pleasantly different and you really are a normal girl. There is nothing the slightest bit magical about you and that is the end of this discussion," he cried, still sticking obstinately to his belief.  
"No, this is not the end, because I'm not a normal girl!" I shouted, completely losing it as I pulled my hands out from where I had been sitting on them to show him the emerald sparks shooting from my fingertips, as they had been ever since Dumbledore had mentioned warlocks. As I brought my hands up for my parents to see, I had just enough time to see their stunned expressions before there was a loud bang and a warm tingling up my arms and the living room was plunged into darkness.

A thousand thoughts raced through my head as the lights went out, but the one that I couldn't get any from was that I caused this. Whatever had happened with the lights I knew that I had done it, with the sparks within me. But thankfully I didn't have long to dwell on these thoughts. There was a muttered "Lumos" from the chair next to me and suddenly a cool blue light filled the room, its source a thin wooden stick in Dumbledore's hand.  
"What the devil was that?" My mother exclaimed, after she had made sure that my dad and I were both safe.  
"And what is that?" My dad added, gesturing toward the wood in Dumbledore's hand.  
"This is my wand, made of elder. And in regard to what that was, that was a demonstration of a warlock's untrained powers," he replied as he set to work fixing the lights that had blown.  
"So it's real… She is a warlock… and we can't change that?" My mother half whispered to Dumbledore when all the lights had been fixed and he was settled back into the chair.  
"I'm afraid not. She was born as a warlock and nothing will change that," Albus Dumbledore proclaimed seriously before adding Ina more light-hearted manner, "although I daresay you'll find that there are many upsides to having a warlock in the house. But anyway, back to the differences between witches and wizards and warlocks," suddenly my dad intervened,

"I thought warlocks were all males, how can my daughter be one?"

"Ah, you see that is another muggle perception that is incorrect. Warlocks can actually be both male and female. This also may come as I shock to you but warlocks, also known as Lilth's Children, are not entirely human," he held up a hand to stem the outburst that was surely about to come from my parents. I was listening to everything Albus Dumbledore had to say intently, my heart beating faster and faster as I found out more and more about who and what I was.

"warlocks are only half human, the offspring of a human and a demon, it is obvious that neither of you is a demon so Hermione's biological father must have been a shape-shifter demon." This time nothing could stop the outburst that came from my parents.

"What the hell are you going on about! Are you implying that I was being unfaithful to my husband?" my mother just about shrieked at Dumbledore while clutching my dad's arm rather painfully.

"And how can you dare say that I'm not Hermione's father!" my father roared at the man that had interrupted our normal Friday night.

"I said nothing of the sort," he replied quite calmly, "in fact, I said just the opposite."

"What?" my mum began, but before she could say any more my dad muttered to her,

"Just let him finish, and for heavens sake let go of my arm!" she obliged and so Dumbledore continued,

"I said that the demon was almost certainly a shape-shifter and it would have assumed the appearance of Mr Granger, therefore it is nobody's fault. As for who Miss Granger's real father is, even though the demon is her biological father it does not make it her real dad. I'm sure that she considers you to be her dad, in blood or not, after all, there are some ties that go deeper than blood," he looked at my dad kindly as he said this, as though he knew what he was going through.

"Dad, of course you'll always be my dad, even though you can be a tad pigheaded sometimes," I smiled at him as I saw him visibly relax.

"One of the things that make a warlock easy to recognise is the addition of a animal body part. I've seen warlocks with bat's wings, horse tails, scaled hands, talons and even an unfortunate one with a pig's snout," Dumbledore grimaced at the memory, "poor boy, he never really did well in life. Anyway, Miss Grangers mark is her eyes, you were quite right in comparing them to cats, as they are in fact, eyes of a cat. Now that is my first point done, now lets move onto the second matter that has brought me here today," he smiled round at us, my shell-shocked parents, and me, probably also looking quite shell-shocked.

"The second reason I am here today, with no notice, is because I am headmaster of school that would be very interested in having Miss Granger,"

"What school is this? Because I'll have you know that there are many schools that our Hermione has been offered a place in and we have just accepted a place in one of the best schools in England for her, and so if you want your school to be considered it had better have some good qualities," my dad seemed to grow a lot taller as he made his statement, for we were in his territory now, he was a business man at heart and this is what he knew.

"I have no doubt that it is an excellent school, but it is a muggle school, am I right?" Dumbledore asked,

"Well yes, it's a non-magic school, if thats what you mean," Dad said, looking a bit confused as he visibly deflated.

"Ah, I see. Well my school is a magical school, by the name of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and it would teach Hermione to use her powers correctly. The reason I came to see you personally about it rather than you receiving a letter about it tomorrow, which you would, seeing as tomorrow is Hermione's birthday, is because she is a warlock."

"I thought so, because the school's name encompasses witches and wizards but doesn't include warlocks," Mum commented, showing her quick perception.

"Precisely. You have very quick thinking Mrs Granger," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling at her, "but yes, warlocks are very, very rare. So rare, that we shall have to be very careful if you decide to take up my offer of a place. You see, because warlocks are so rare, and because they are only half human, many people are of the impression that they are evil, like the demon that fathered them and others are of the opinion that they are not as good as pure humans, that they are dumber than the rest of humans. I am of neither opinion, I believe that they are just as good as you or I, well just as good as myself, seeing as you are in fact, one of the discriminated," He directed the last comment to me and I felt a rush of gratitude towards this man, who had turned my life upside-down.

"But because of these predjudices, I believe that it would be for the best if we concealed the fact that you are a warlock from the rest of the school. Oh, wait, dear me, I haven't asked you whether you would like to take up my offer yet." He looked round at us, posing the question as if it was an easy thing to decide. But, as I thought about it, it was easy. All my life I had wondered about my life, and here was a chance to learn what I could become, to not live in fear of what I didn't understand. i looked over at my parents, with their heads together, whispering fiercely, no doubt discussing the pros and cons of accepting a place at this school. Again, I felt a rush of gratitude, but this time towards my parents, who really only wanted the best for me. Clearing my throat, I spoke,

"Mum, Dad, I want to go."

"Why?" My mum asked, looking intently at me. Raising my head until my green eyes met her identically coloured ones, I spoke firmly,

"Because I believe that it is the best place for me to be."

"Are you sure?" This time it was my dad asking me, and telling me it was my decision to make.

"Yes." Green eyes met brown as I gave him the answer that I knew would change my life.

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**A/N - sooo... what do you think? please review, i want to know what u guys think!**

**- BrownEyed Girl**


	3. Powers Revealed

**Disclaimer - all hp and mi related stuff belongs to JK Rowling and Cassandra Clare, respectively**

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"Yes, we would be delighted to let Hermione accept this place at you school," my dad proclaimed, happy to finally see me happy.

"Excellent, Excellent. I'm very glad you accepted. Since you are now a student of Hogwarts I shall expect you to address me as Sir, or Professor at all times, although I doubt that I shall have a problem with someone as polite as you," though his tone was severe, the twinkle stayed in his eyes so I understood that he was not angry at me, but simply laying down ground rules.

"Of course Professor." I answered, thrilled to be able to have the chance to learn at an elite school.

"Wonderful. Since we have a problem of prejudices at our school, I would like to come back tomorrow to discuss things in greater length, and also to discuss with Miss Granger privately about her powers, if that is okay," he addressed the request to my parents, who seemed to be slowly recovering their normal complexions.

"Well, it is Hermione's birthday, but I suppose it's quite important, isn't it?" Mum asked, and I loved the fact that in the face of all that happened, she still cared about me having a normal, muggle birthday.

"Yes it is. I'm very sorry to be intruding on a birthday but it has to be done. I will come later in the day so Miss Granger can at least enjoy some of her day. Shall we say, 1:00?" he replied.

"Yes, that will be great Sir," I butted in enthusiastically.

"Do you have anywhere to stay tonight?" asked dad, his hostility replaced by hospitality.

"Yes I do, I wouldn't want to impose upon you anyway," the Professor replied, waving any all protest ions that it wouldn't be any trouble, he rose to his feet, "I'm sure that Miss Granger could show me where the door is. I'd let myself out but I seem to have forgotten where the door is." I stood up to let him out, but we got no further than the door way out of the lounge before dad stepped in front of us.

"Look, Dumbledore, I'm really sorry for all the stuff I said before, and for not believing you. I feel really awful about all the insults I gave to you," at this point he trailed off, unsure of what else to say.

"That's quite alright, many people have called me worse," he smiled down at dad, who had turned an interesting pink colour. With that, I showed him quickly down the hall and to the door, where he didn't linger but instead bade me a quick farewell and headed down the street, his robes swishing behind him.

(And Time Passes, imagine little astericks)

The window pane was cold as I pressed my face against it, waiting for a glimpse of Professor Dumbledore. The clock in the kitchen had chimed 12:00 about half an hour ago, so technically he was supposed to be here for another half hour at least, but I couldn't do anything else. I'd originally wanted a normal day after the shock of last night, but while I was eating my breakfast an owl arrived in the kitchen, bearing the words,

_Hermione Granger_

_The Kitchen_

_Somewhere in England_

Inside that envelope was so much information on Hogwarts that I couldn't really focus on TV and other muggle things. For the rest of the morning the knowledge that I was a warlock had plagued me and so when 12:00 came, I made my way to the loveseat in the front room to watch for a glimpse of my headmaster.

When the doorbell rang, at 1:00 precisely, I jumped, startled. I swiftly looked up and down the street again, confused. I had been watching the street intently for an hour, so I wondered how he had managed to slip under my radar. I hurried down the hall, but stopped when I reached a photo lying on the old, red, woollen rug. I reached to pick it up and as I turned it over I recognised it as the same photo I had looked at last night, the one at the seaside. I smiled at what I had thought when I saw the picture last night, and how I had wished I could have gone back to that time. Now when I put it back, I smiled at the girl, happy for her because she was happy and so was I. Without a backward glance I set off down the narrow hall, heading for the wooden door, to let in the man that opened my eyes to who I was.

"Hello Professor, how are you?" I asked as I let him in. I did a slight double-take at what he was wearing. I was ready for the odd robes, but not for ones in the brighest scarlet imaginable.

"Wow, nice colour," I remarked, before I could stop myself. After realizing what I had said, I cringed and waited for the reproachment, but it never came.

"Thank you very much. And I am very good, in answer to your question. I trust you had an excellent birthday morning before it is to become dampened by lessons and studies?" He replied, seeming unaffected by my comment.

"Yes, thank you sir," I replied, as I ushered him into the house, "Where do you want to go?"

"Direct and straight to the point, that's a good quality to have," he remarked, in answer to my question, before continuing, "I believe that the lounge room shall be fine for the moment." And smoothing down his long beard we set off down the hall, away from the door. As we entered the lounge room I began to feel nervous, as I wondered what sort of things he wanted to talk to me about.

"Please, let us sit. News is always taken much better sitting down," Dumbledore gestured for us both to have a seat before he looked very seriously at me, and started to speeak.

"Now, it is time we discussed, in greater depth, your powers. All warlocks have some of the same powers, but the more powerful ones have their own, more unique powers," he began, as I listened, enraptured, to every word he said, "as the demon that fathered you was most probably a shape-shifter, that will mean that you are also likely to be one. In the case of shape-shifters, the muggle idea is very close to our idea. A shape-shifter is someone with the ability to change the physical appearence, and thus their shape, at will. Being a shapeshifter is not quite as effortless and unlimited as it sounds. The warlock is nearly almost always limited to one particular branch of shape, such as a mammal, or a reptile, or a human. There a very few warlocks that have the ability to change into anything they wish, so we will havbe to discover what sort of shape-shifter you are, if you are one at all."

"But you think I am one, right?" I interuppted eagerly, before remembering who I was talking to, and quickly adding, "sir."

"Yes, I believe it is definately a possibility," Professor Dumbledore replied, not seeming too annoyed by my interupption, "but to find out for definite, we will need to experiment with your powers."

"Can we do that now, please Professor?" I pleaded, desperate to find out whether I could control my power or not.

"Well naturally I would hate to come between a girl and her newly found powers, but experimenting with a young warlock's power is hardly something that should be done in the middle of a muggle community."

"Oh, I hadn't thought of that," I said quietly, as a red flush crept into my cheeks and I wondered how I could have been so stupid.

"That's quite alright, you've never had anything to hide, so you wouldn't have thought of something like that," he replied, and I could feel his smile, even though I kept my head to the floor to hide my pink cheeks.

"But what do we do then? If I can't practising using and controlling my powers, how can I go to school, sir?" I asked, raising my eyes from the floor and pushing my long brown hair behind my ears as I looked worriedly at the man sitting opposite me. But the man merely chuckled and said,

"Well, that is easily fixed. You shall have to come to Hogwarts before the year starts. Then we will have ample time to discuss your power, and we can work on bringing the few relunctant staff around to see our opinion." At his suggestion I again cursed myself inwardly for being so stupid, then wondered anxiously what I was going to say to my parents.

"I am very sorry for being the cause of you losing the rest of your summer, but again, we have no choice," Dumbledore said as he looked kindly at me, peering over his half-moon spectacles. I sighed as the fact that I was going to lose the rest of my holidays hit me, and nodded in agreement to my headmaster.

"Well, now that we have that sorted, I think it's time to tell your parents," he stated, and I jumped, as I had been deep in thought. He motioned for me to get them, and so I trailed around the house, looking for the two people that had raised me.

Luckily, my parents seemed to be okay with me leaving earlier than expected. I sensed that mum was far from happy about it, but thankfully she didn't cause much fuss. Dad seemed okay with it, although a bit downcast when he heard I had to leave very soon. When they both seemed accepting of the fact, Dumbledore stood and departed, showing himself out the door, but before leaving handed me a envelope, made of thick paper, in which he said I would find everything I needed to get to Hogwarts.

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**A/N - sooooooooo... thats chapter 2, chapter 3 should be up soon, ive already written half**

**and please review! :)**

**- BrownEyed Girl**


	4. Travelling

**Disclaimer - All MI and HP stuff is owned by cassandra clare**

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**Chapter 3 - Travelling**

"We will be arriving at our destination in approximately 10 minutes. Please fasten your seatbelts in preparation for landing." The captain's voice blasted out from my headphones through which I was trying to watch a movie. As I registered what he had said I stretched and glanced over to the window, past the woman who had sat next to me for the last 2 hours. THe ground was approaching fast and I could already make out the cars as they whizzed down the motorway to their individual destinations. As the plane finally touched down on the runway, I looked around at the unfamiliar scenery. In my hand I held the letter from Professor Dumbledore, explaining what I was to do to get to Hogwarts. As the captain's voice came over the loudspeaker again, this time wishing us a good visit, my mind flashed back to this morning, when I had bidden my parents goodbye.

_"9:30 flight to Heathrow now boarding from gate 3," the crackly voice emitted from the loudspeaker, and at her words people began to get up from their seats and make their way to the said gate__  
"Well, I guess we should head over then," my dad said, making a poor attempt at acting normal, like sending his daughter off for a couple of months wasn't a big deal.  
"Yeah, I guess so," I replied, and I slowly rose up from my chair.  
"Do you have to go now? We could wait for a couple of minutes more," mum said eagerly, not trying to hide the fact that she hated to have to let me go. To be honest, the novelty of being a warlock had long worn off and I hated the fact that I had to leave my parents. But I hid it from them because I knew that if they knew I didnt want to go then it would make it harder from them to let me go.  
"No, Jane we can't," dad said softly to mum, laying a hand on her shoulder, then going back to his painful attempt at excitement, continued, "we wouldn't want Hermione to miss her plane, would we." From the look that mum shot him at this statement, it was clear that that was exactly what she wanted. Then she stood up to join us and together we made our way towards the gate that would separate us. As I made to pull my boarding pass out my carry on bag, I was suddenly seized into a hug by my dad. I relaxed and hugged him back, breathing in his cologne and the cheap washing powder mum used for our clothes. When he released me, he cleared his throat and said gruffly,  
"You won't forget us, will you? While you're off learning and having fun," although he spoke lightly I could detect a hint of real fear behind his words.  
"Of course not dad," I reassured him as I turned to hug mum, but before I could she had clutched me to her and squeezed me rather painfully. As she hugged me I could feel her thin frame shake as she cried.  
"Last call for the 9:30 flight to Heathrow, you are boarding from gate 3," as the female voice echoed once more over the speaker I carefully detached myself from my mother's arms and walked towards the boarding gate. As I hurried down the hall I glanced back at my parents, two lone figures standing stationery in the bustle of the airport, and hoped that my mother didn't feel the damp patch on the back of her shirt._

I shook my head to clear the memory from it and stood to depart the plane.

After I had collected my luggage I turned to the letter I still held in my hand.

_Dear Miss Granger_, the letter read, in slanted handwriting, _please find enclosed; your plane ticket to meet me, your booklist and some wizard money that you would so well to familiarize yourself with. The large gold ones are galleons, the silver ones are sickles, and the little bronze ones are knuts. There are 29 knuts to a sickle and 17 sickles to a galleon. I will meet you at Heathrow airport at precisely 1:00 on the 10th of August.  
Yours in magic,  
Albus Dumbledore_

I looked up from the letter, feeling slightly panicked. The short note had not said anything about where to meet him. Heathrow was suddenly a big airport when you think about trying to find one person. Trying to stay calm I thought through the options in my head. As I went through and discarded most options, the best one seemed to be to wait out the front of the airport, so as to spot him going in. My decision made, I picked up my trunk and headed for the doors. As I was approaching the exit I noticed a group of guys standing next to the door. Taking a deep breath, I resolved to ignore them as I strode towards the door.

"Hey darlin'. Where you off to in such a hurry," one of the asked as he stepped between me and the door. I kept walking, resolving to ignore their comments.

"What's a good-looking girl like you doing waiting in an airport by yourself?" another asked, probing me for infomation as he joined his friend in blocking my exit.

"Perhaps she's waiting for her boyfriend?" Another questioned, as he tossed his sandy hair and leered at me. Acting on an impluse I looked up to meet their eyes, and stated,

"Well yes, in fact I am," as I fixed them with the steeliest glare I had.

"Bit quick in defending herself, ain't she," the comments came more and more as I continued towards them, still intent on getting to the door. When I finally reached them, all of them were between me and the exit. I'm not naïve about the way I look, and I knew that they thought me much older than I was. I also knew that I was way out of my depth and that the best option was to go round them. My heartrate accelerating, I steered sharply to the left in order to bypass the idiots.

"Oi! Where do you think you're going? We were still talking to you!" the guy that seemed to be the leader called out, and caught at my arm as I tried to walk past them.

"Don't touch me," I shot back at him, panic colouring my voice. Not because of them, but because of the tingling in my fingers that had started to grow.

"Oooooo, serious aren't you. Whatcha gonna do to us?" One of them sniggered as the grip on my arm tightened.

"I am serious. Let go of me now," I said again, my panic growing as I curled my hands into fists to hide the sparks that had began to dance between my fingers. The boy holding me started to grin, his teeth flashing under the harsh lights of the airport.

"Look at her hands, she's got them into fists now. What's she gonna do, beat us up?" he said, putting a fake scared tone into his voice. At the sound of his mocking voice I snapped. He should be afraid of me. I should be the one holding him, not the other way round. I was warlock, and a Child of Lilith. I pulled myself up to my full height and shook my hair out of my face as I calmly met the tawny eyes of my oppressor.

"Beat you up?" At his statement I laughed, a mocking laugh, to rival his mocking tone, "I don't need to beat you up." With that statement I uncurled the fingers of my hands and loosened the power that resided within me, trusting it to do the right thing. The tingling increased and their was a slight bang and suddenly I was alone in the airport. Upon finding this, I panicked, wondering what I had done, but I had hardly time to berate myself for unleashing my power before I noticed the boys some 10 metres away crowding around the leader, who seemed to be sporting a large burn on his hand, the hand that had been holding me. As if he felt my gaze on him he looked up and saw me. As he met my eyes I saw the pained expression on his face be replaced by something that suprised me, fear. At the sight of his expresssion, I was jolted into realising what I had done. I had burned someone. I had used my powers willingly and had caused someone pain. But before I could finish comprehending what I had done I felt a hand on my shoulder. Startled, I whirled round, wondering who it was. As I saw who it was I relaxed visibly. After what I had just done, I didn't particually fancy looking for Professor Dumbledore, and now I didn't have to.

"That was a very bold move, Miss Granger," said the man whom I had been about to go looking for, "it was also a very risky move," he continued and fixed me with a piercing gaze as he removed his hand from my shoulder.

"I-I-I'm v-very s-s-sorry sir," I stuttered back at him, quailing under his much more successful stare than mine had beeen.

"I cannot really say that it is alright, because it is not. However, it was a successful piece of magic and therefore there was no harm done, and you look shocked and tired and so I will leave my lectures to a later date," his gaze now became a lot less scary and the twinkle in his eyes became a lot more prominent. He gently steered me towards the exit as behind me I heard the muttered comments of the boys behind us,

"Freak."

"Did you see that fire?"

"Yeah, it was green."

"She burned me."

"You weren't the only one."

"We were just havin' a laugh."

"Why'd she have to go all bitchy on us?"

"And the man with her, what a joke."

"Yeah, freaks"

"Both of them."

"Freaks."

Just before we reached the exit Dumbledore stopped and turned to face the boys, who backed away at the sight of our faces. However, their fears had no need. Dumbledore simply pulled out his wand and muttered a seemingly nonsense word. But as I watched the boys eyes slide in and out of focus I knew that he was performing magic. As the boys came to, the looked at eachother and wandered off, without a backward glance at either of us.

"What did you do to them?" I asked, my mind still reeling from the comments they had made.

"Nothing major. It was but a simple memory charm. None of them will remember you, or what you did," Dumbledore replied, smiling down at me as we headed outside into the warm summer air.

We walked without a particular destination in mind, so it seemed, except to get away from all civilisation. For a bit the silence surrounding and between us was comforting, as it gave me time to get my wits back after the incident and the journey. But, after about half an hour of trudging through streets with no name, it began to get dark and I wondered what I had got myself into.

"Umm..." I croaked, my voice hoarse from lack of use. I tried again, "Professor, where exactly are we going?"

"To Hogwarts, Miss Granger," He replied, seeming surprised at my question.

"But where is it? How are we getting there?" I asked, trying a different tact on my questioning. To this, he chuckled lightly to himself before answering my questions.

"By apparation. Your actions back at the airport caused me to forget that you are very new to the world of magic. And before you ask what apparation is, it is a magical form of teleportation, which enables a witch or wizard to move from one location to another, almost instantaniously. Ah, this should do it," He proclaimed as he stopped and walked a couple of metres into the dark forest, that was next to the path on which we had been walking. With some trepidation I followed, wondering, again, what I had got myself into. As we stood in the shadows of dark trees he held out his arm and gestured for me to take. Relunctantly I did, as I did I blinked and suddenly we were in a different place. Startled, I looked around for a sign of where we had been, but there were none.

"You are looking a tad shocked, Miss Granger," Dumbledore pronounced, as he smoothed his beard.

"Well, yes, I am. How did that happen? We were there and then I blinked, and suddenly we were here!"

"You do not have any side effects? Nausea, headache, body parts feeling like they left London unwillingly?"

"No, not at all."

"Did you feel anything when we travelled, such as an unpleasent sqeezing sensation?"

"Nope, nothing, sir," I frowned, wondering whether I was meant to have felt something. But then, I didn't see him going over to puke in a ditch, so why should I? Suddenly, I felt a wave of tiredness and just wished to be in a bed, and go to sleep. Instead, I trudged slowly up the hill towards the large castle that was sitting on top of it. Normally I would have been impressed by the silent castle, sitting imposingly on a hill, in the middle of Outer Mongolia, for all I knew. But I was just too tired.

I listened blearily as Dumbledore told me about the school, and its history, but upon seeing my exhausted face, smiled and instead gave me a book that he said would "help to sate my thirst for answers" and led me up some stairs, and through some doors, and down some corridors to where thankfully a bed was waiting for me, with my pajamas on it and so, bidding my headmaster goodnight I climbed happily into the bed and fell fast asleep.

* * *

**Chapter three up, sorry it took so long. i was really bogged down by "back to school" homework! :(**

**But hopefully ill get chapter 4 up soon! :)**

**- BrownEyed Girl**


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